I'm back! Progress made!

That’s great news  thanks for sharing and  don’t push yourself too far

Thank you BlueRay I'm going slowly so hopefully I don't screw it up.

Yeah, me too. It’s taken nearly two years and four support workers (if you include my autism psychiatrist) to convince me to take ‘baby steps’. 

I didn’t understand what they were talking about at first and thought it was a ridiculous idea, until I witnessed for myself that the less I did, the more I achieved .

I only eat once or twice a day (when I’ve got a routine) so I’m currently exploring what works best for me, for example, eating my food earlier in the day or later in the day. And it looks like earlier is going to work for me, which is how I used to eat when I was at my best. 

My goal, before I even think about working again, is to figure out what works best for me to eliminate the possibility of another burnout. And so far, it’s going very very well. I absolutely know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that I’ll never experience burnout again and baby steps has been a key player on my journey to this realisation. 

Keep up the good work brother because once we get this, we really do begin to live the enormous benefits of being autistic in today’s world

Yeah, I know that one, some unexpected understanding coming from some people

Yeah, my support workers have been great and I often walk away from my psychiatrist thinking, he doesn’t really understand what it’s like to be autistic but then I realised, how could he but he always says one thing that seems to snap me out of whatever obsessive thought pattern I’m in and that’s good enough for me because my real support comes from the support workers or the people on here and my local autism group and whenever I saw the normal mental health team, they were about as good as a chocolate fire guard, lol, they had no awareness of autism at all and didn’t seem open to even trying to see it my way, so I keep away from them now because they make me feel worse. 

That's pretty much the was I'm feeling about my situation. Mine are as useful as the chocolate fireguard too! There's more to it, but as I've said I'll address it first before I tell all here. I'm pretty obsessive too, but I've learned more about that in my support network too.

I think I’ve been lucky in that I am able, to some degree, articulate what’s going on for me and somehow from that, they are able to somehow help me but it’s coupled with the support I get from coming here and the people at my group so somehow, I’ve been able to muddle my way through. 

Yeah, I think that being able to express it has helped me too. I've got a mentor and we have some pretty interesting conversations because she can articulate it well too. I think that my worker likes the fact that I can articulate it too. I think that it gives them experience, but it also helps you pinpoint your needs so that they can put things into practice tnat they know. It's a blessing to be able to put across what you need, and have people who can offer real solutions.

I’m glad you’ve got at least one person on your side. Having at least one person on my side helps me tremendously, even if they don’t fully understand me. It’s just comforting to me knowing I’ve got someone. 

I do count my blessings too. My worker has got me through so much. It's also odd since my diagnosis which people I have around me that understand more than others, some were very unexpected.

Yeah, my support workers have been great and I often walk away from my psychiatrist thinking, he doesn’t really understand what it’s like to be autistic but then I realised, how could he but he always says one thing that seems to snap me out of whatever obsessive thought pattern I’m in and that’s good enough for me because my real support comes from the support workers or the people on here and my local autism group and whenever I saw the normal mental health team, they were about as good as a chocolate fire guard, lol, they had no awareness of autism at all and didn’t seem open to even trying to see it my way, so I keep away from them now because they make me feel worse. 

That's pretty much the was I'm feeling about my situation. Mine are as useful as the chocolate fireguard too! There's more to it, but as I've said I'll address it first before I tell all here. I'm pretty obsessive too, but I've learned more about that in my support network too.

I think I’ve been lucky in that I am able, to some degree, articulate what’s going on for me and somehow from that, they are able to somehow help me but it’s coupled with the support I get from coming here and the people at my group so somehow, I’ve been able to muddle my way through. 

Yeah, I think that being able to express it has helped me too. I've got a mentor and we have some pretty interesting conversations because she can articulate it well too. I think that my worker likes the fact that I can articulate it too. I think that it gives them experience, but it also helps you pinpoint your needs so that they can put things into practice tnat they know. It's a blessing to be able to put across what you need, and have people who can offer real solutions.

I’m glad you’ve got at least one person on your side. Having at least one person on my side helps me tremendously, even if they don’t fully understand me. It’s just comforting to me knowing I’ve got someone. 

I do count my blessings too. My worker has got me through so much. It's also odd since my diagnosis which people I have around me that understand more than others, some were very unexpected.

Yeah, I know that one, some unexpected understanding coming from some people